Saturday, November 26, 2011

So Much To Be Thankful For...

Day: 132
Date: 11.28.11

Now that this Thanksgiving Day has come and gone, I find myself reflecting on the day, both for 2011 and for the years past. Like those before, this year was filled with friends, food, fellowship and football. However, unlike those past years, our families and some of our best friends were missing. Oh how your perspective changes when you are 5000+ miles away from the land you once called home and the family you love. Friends and family who you had spent the past 30+ years with are now only accessible by phone, text, email or video. Was this a difficult Thanksgiving... the short answer is yes! However, what this Thanksgiving did provide was a reminder of what the holiday truly is about.

According to Webster, the word "Thanksgiving" is defined as "a day set apart for giving thanks to God". A question that arises as I consider this is, why just a single day? We all have so much to be thankful for, how could we possibly cram all that into a single 24 hour period of time? So in addition to using just that single day, lets take a moment each day to reflect on the past year and the many blessings we have to be thankful for.

As for me and my family where do I start? God has blessed us so much in the past 12 months. It's still hard to believe its all real. What started out as a nudge from The Man upstairs grew into reality and here I sit typing this in Kasilof, AK. Who would have ever thought this was even possible? The list of things we are all thankful for is as long as the road we traveled to get here... A God who loves us and provides for us daily, a family back home who does the same and friends both old and new who have been such a help and mean so much, just to name a few.

With all this being said, what are you thankful for? Do you take time to give thanks on a regular basis or like so many other people (myself included at times), do you try to pack it all into a single day? In the days, weeks and months ahead take a moment each day to be thankful... but more importantly, take that time to give thanks to those you are thankful to and for.